Infinite Destiny
by darkstream0
Summary: Stupid stones and the butterflies that flapped because of Steve Rogers brought me here. Might as well show what a Buddhist pilot can do from India. Oh right I am so far back in time. Why does the author always cast us down the lanes of History despite the heat he gets from his readers. He is MAD that's why! An Apocalypse SI.
1. The beginning

8th June 2019

Siddharth Suryanarayan is an IAF( Indian Air Force) pilot based on a classified air base on one of the Andaman Islands. The base was a secret facility with Indo-US joint command. A totally secret facility established after the Modi led NDA government came into power in 2014. It was created as the result of geopolitical realities in the Indo- pacific region. With the previous UPA government being an isolationist government, China had almost completely exercised control surrounding the Indian subcontinent. As a result of the government incompetence Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Myanmar all are now under the influence of China through their economy.

The blame of this situation may solely rest at the Indian politics. Frankly there are a multitude of problems affecting India from within so they largely had no time or resources to play International politics after the fall of Soviet Union who was the shield of India adter Independence unless it is a verbal spar with the Government of Pakistan.

India is a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic incorporating different languages, religions, castes, beliefs etc. But since its formation India became a self appointed leader of the neutral countries in the Cold War era, in fact India tried its best to actively avoid any conflicts or entanglements with outside countries. British colonization left India broke as all they did was loot the subcontinent and transfers that wealth to their little island. Even the two world wars Britain fought were largely financed by India which was never paid back by the British Empire or the UK. Before British colonization India was a world renowned exporter of finished goods but after colonization India became a consumer state in many ways as a result of deindustrialization initiated by the British Empire.

Just like Soviet Union Indian economy was a closed one till 1990's. But after the serious economic struggle that were being faced by the Indian republic the government decided to open Indian market for foreign investment. This was the first step and it was huge leap for India as a whole and the economy surged ahead with no stop. But slowly that growth once again slowed down in 2007. There were other politics involved but in the end the next election saw a change in government and this new government inherited a far stronger threat and that was China.

But China was a bigger threat that India could not afford to fight alone. This was not the China in 1962 that attacked India without any provocation whatsoever and managed to snatch several of sovereign lands of India in this war. But seeing as China has fought all of its bordering nations like this it was no great surprise to many other nations at that time. The problem was the new China was more advanced in every key aspects compared to the new India. They have political stability, economic stability, technological superiority, Nuclear power, strong army, navy, air force and so on. Not only that they are permanent members of UN Security Council and has always been blocking India from initiating Anti-terrorist movements against Pakistan. India was surrounded by enemies from all sides and China and Pakistan has common cause against India. They both have land disputes with India after all.

Siddharth did not know much about the land dispute with China but he knew the problem revolved around two border maps drawn by two British rulers of India during colonization period. They absolutely destroyed everything during the 200 years of colonization. Cut up Indian secularism and divided India permanently by playing Indian people against each other which had far reaching consequences. While people like Winston Churchill are celebrated as great heroes of Democracy in the west he and his cabinet were the most ruthless murderers that India have ever seen. His actions directly lead to more than four million Indian men, women and children dead due to mass starvation in Bengal alone during WW2 and the list of atrocities goes on. They did many good things as well but the bad deeds outweighed any good things they did.

Anyway after five years of NDA government rule which had its ups and downs, another election came in 2019. The Congress party which was the main opposition party still did not change its leadership. Sons of old politicians came and faced the public with old names that the people have already heard so many times, promising secular India and all that hype. But they never realized the NDA never bothered with any religious agenda in the last 5 years. They came into power by making such promises but they didn't bother to do any of that simply because they didn't have the time and mind to do that. The India they inherited was a chaotic one. From an outside perspective some may think all guns were silent in the Indian side of things but that was never the situation. Religion was becoming irrelevant in most parts of the nation and the world. The new India was dominated by youth. They were the majority and they saw what their elders didn't. All the political parties ruled them the same way the British ruled India up to 1947, by dividing the nation on religious grounds. The word Hindu itself didn't exist in India until the British came because there was no such religion in India as Hinduism. There was an amalgamation of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Judaism and many others. All these religions were incorporated to form the Hinduism at that time, but of course there was no name like that as what we call Hinduism at that time was merely a way of life or a culture. It never asked anyone to worship this god or that god. It never asked anyone to read only this holy book or that. It simply asked its followers to seek truth in the world.

Most of the religions came into India peacefully. For example, Judaism came into India from refugees as Jews fled their Holy Land due to atrocities against them. India remained the only nation to welcome Jews with open arms and allowed to construct their temples and granted them full religious freedoms even without the existence of any democracy in India. Even today Israel teaches their children this fact and Israel has always helped India whenever they faced a crisis out of respect and the help they gave generations before.

So that was the culture India enjoyed but unfortunately Islam came to India like it came everywhere in the world. It came in the form of invaders conquering, murdering, and destroying anything and everything that posed a threat to their agenda and so on. The Northern India suffered much of the atrocities committed by Islamist leaders while the South was left alone as Southern India was already familiar with Islam and had great deep familial bonds as the religion came through marriages with Arab natives. But in the North it was very different. Fortunately as their rule began to stabilize and Islam itself began to immerse into the Indian culture it gradually lost its sharp tone and evolved and expanded like never before. This can be seen very clearly as Islam began to spread peacefully in India through songs, dance, trade, cuisines etc. Rulers like Akbar were hailed as the greatest rulers India has ever seen for this simple reason. They may have come as conquerors but they became conquered by the culture that existed in India in return. But resentment still festered in the North. Everything was forgiven but never forgotten. This was the resentment the British used to split India and this exists even today even after Independence. Even in the South during British conquest they spread lies regarding Tippu Sultan and his armies. Britain managed to spread word that the Sultan destroyed temples of Hindu's to rally kings of Kerala against the Sultan. But time proved the Sultan was a great leader and in fact never did anything of that sort as the British accused. In fact his rule was one of the most prosperous rules the South India has ever seen and he is celebrated as a national icon that almost succeeded in throwing out the British from Southern India.

The new NDA government tried their best to implement a correction to the constitution but failed due to low numbers in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian democracy. This bill outlaid the formation of a uniform civil code for all Indians irrespective of caste, creed, language, religion or anything for that matter. In the end it failed but the new generation realized the importance of this bill. It would be a solution to the resentment between religions and different castes in India and truly unify the people like in the past but under the rule of law. In a diverse country like India a common platform for every citizen was absolutely necessary as the world was stepping into a very different age.

The 2019 elections were a serious affair for not just India but many other nations as well. The last five years the Indian state became a soft power in the world, easily entering the hearts of many rather than the head. With a UPA government in power many of the nations like Japan, Australia and US feared an isolationist government again but fortunately the opposition parties failed spectacularly against the NDA. With them fielding sons, daughters, cousins, nephews, and nieces of old political leaders in all constituencies of India the end result was BJP alone took above 300 seats in the parliament. They could again rule without the NDA parties like last time if needed.

Well this was a good thing for Siddharth's base. As far as he is concerned they are the front line defense against any Chinese incursions into the Bay of Bengal. With a strong and decisive government in power they can proceed with the secret strategic and military corporation with US in the Island. But now he was in a rush to his Thejus MK2 aircraft as there have been strange activities in Bay of Bengal. All he was told was to observe and report. He didn't know if there was an incursion by Chinese aircrafts as they could access the sea from Myanmar which is under their influence to some extent.

The Thejus MK2 is reported to be completed by 2022 but if you just believe official reports alone your loss not mine. Anyways he flew the aircraft up into the sky leaving the safety of his base. Within minutes he approached the designated location and what he saw was something out of this world. A ring of rainbow was formed in the sky emitting strange energies.

"Base, are you seeing this." He asked out loud

"We are seeing this Thunderbird. Approach closer to the ring but keep a safe distance." the base responded

With caution he circled the Aircraft around the ring to the other side and suddenly from the very centre of the ring a white beam of energy pulsed outwards. The systems in his aircraft blared alarm sounds as he lost control of the aircraft. He tried to contact the base but all he got was static from the other end. A strong wind blade came from the ring which sheared off a wing of his aircraft. With no other choice he ejected from the plane and that was his mistake.

The moment he ejected he became suspended in the sky facing the ring. The ring suddenly exploded and six different lights began to take form and as he looked closer it took his breath away. He saw something he had seen in the movies. Infinity stones began circling in the space where the rainbow ring was. The stones began to pour energy together into the centre of the circle it made and with a boom the energy struck him. He screamed like he screamed never before. His entire body became overwhelmed in a matter of nanoseconds. The seat that he sat burned away from him as did his clothes and with a yank the stones pulled him into the circle they created and he knew no more.

**XXXXXXXX**

Siddharth woke up with a groan as the sunlight pierced his eyes. He had a very strange dream last night. He sat up and opened his eyes but he found he was surrounded by complete darkness. He was immediately struck by a massive headache and he screamed in pain. A purple energy barrier came around him and that's when he realized that he was surrounded by huge rocks. The energy barrier pushed the rocks away from his line of sight and suddenly he felt he could move his body. But the pain in his head was not petting him concentrate and his instincts took over. With a bright flash he felt himself teleport away from the area he found himself in.

The next time he opened his eyes he found himself in a forest. He cautiously stood up and that's when he realized he felt completely different. He looked at his hands and then the rest of his body. He panicked as he saw some kind of armor was covering him. Once again he was struck by a headache but unlike last time he was getting flashes of memories. He supported himself on a nearby tree and stood like that for an hour as his mind was busy processing the new set of memories he was experiencing. After sometime he realized with a great amount of shock that he inhabited another body and that too in a very different reality.

He sat down under the tree with a lost look as he realized he inhabited the body of Apocalypse from X-Men. He was in the body of a being that can be called a god with godlike powers. He was familiar with the concept of self inserts as he had read many such fan fictions. But he never imagined such a thing would happen to him. He spent some time under the tree contemplating his next move. Eventually he came to accept what happened to him and his first goal was to find out where he was and in what timeline. With that thought he began to navigate through the forest looking for a town or village. But after walking for over two hours he could not find anything and eventually he came across a small stream of water running freely in the forest. He decided to quench his thirst and become fresh so he jumped into the water. The cool water immediately refreshed him and he greedily drank as much of it as he could.

After taking rest his mind was now a little bit clear and calm so he began to test his powers that he inherited from this body. The first thing he did was stab his hand with a sharp rock. He felt the pain but the moment he pulled out the stone the wound closed up instantaneously which proved he had instant regeneration. The next power he tested was matter manipulation. But that was a disaster as he struggled to hold a pattern with the structure that he was envisioning. The grains of sand he collected fell apart quickly which was a disappointment. He had the memories of Ra but it seems memories are not enough to have total control over his powers. The next thing he did was to summon the teleportation bubble around him but this time it refused to take him to the destination that he had in mind which was Mumbai City. The bubble fell apart with purple sparks which made him angry as that would have solved his immediate problem.

"This is really fucked up." Siddharth angrily kicked a rock into the stream

"Well, in a way you are correct." a voice from his back jovially said

Siddharth immediately turned around and his eyes widened as he saw an old man wearing a similar costume the Ancient one used in the Doctor Strange movie.

"Who are you?" Siddharth asked

"My name is Chandragupta and I think you know who I am but let me confirm your doubts. I am a sorcerer from the Sanctum of Kamar Taj and I think we need to talk young man." with that said the sorcerer created a portal with his sling ring

If Siddharth had any doubts that were removed when he saw the sorcerer opens the portal. With nothing else to do he decided to go with the flow and he stepped into the portal with the sorcerer.


	2. The conquest

**Kamar Taj**

Siddharth was sitting opposite to the sorcerer supreme who was quite happily reading from a parchment.

"I can't still believe this is all real. I mean hours ago I was flying an aircraft and now I am in MCU in the body of a very powerful mutant. How is this all possible?" Siddharth asked in wonder

"You know the answer to that question yourself." the sorcerer said serenely

"Multiverse…? But why am I here and for what purpose." he asked

"Why did you come here? I do not know. But I know why it happened." the sorcerer rolled up the parchment and looked at him

"Why?" he asked curiously

"You are here because in a parallel universe the Infinity stones were destroyed. That caused a chain reaction and all the cosmic energies are in imbalance and further adding insult to the injury the Captain America did the most stupid thing. He went back in time and changed everything. He married the women he loved. It was as if he was slapping the collective conscious of the Infinity stones and treating them as colourful baubles." the sorcerer said with a pained look

"But ... but that was just in the movies." he said baffled at the logic

"Oh! No my young friend. That is what happened in this Universe and the stones just recreated themselves and re-winded the time and changed what it wanted. So here we are." the sorcerer said with a happy smile

"Why are you smiling? This is a disaster. Why did the stones pull me into this mess? I had nothing to do with any of the stone in fact I am not even from this universe." he asked hotly

"You are from another universe which is precisely why the stones picked you. It could have been anyone but you were the choice and you can give the credit to the soul stone. We are far back in time. So you don't have to worry about anything now." the sorcerer said

"What year is it?" he asked defeated

"Hmm…. That is a complicated question." the sorcerer adopted a thinking pose

"That was the simplest question with a simplest answer." he said incredulously

"Well how about this. You are at a time where the Maurya Empire is being established in your India." the sorcerer said

"What? My good god….Wait your name is Chandragupta." he eagerly waited for the reply

"I am not the Chandragupta Maurya you think of. I just share the name with the person, nothing more and as for you young man. You may stay here and become my student if you please." the sorcerer offered

"Wait a minute. If I am in the time near the formation of Maurya empire then the year is somewhere before 322 BCE (Before Common Era) right. So the dust from my bones will be gone by the time the Avengers even forms. So what am I supposed to change." he asked

"Ahh…. But my young friend you forget you are immortal now. You took in the power of six infinity stones. Did you think your human body survived that? You are now a mutant with extraordinary powers." the sorcerer said

"That is actually kind of cool.. I think. So what will I do in the mean time." he asked accepting his fate

"You train. You learn. You live." the sorcerer said

"Simple. Just like that." he asked

"Not so simple. You have great power within you." the sorcerer started to say

"Yeah I know. With great power come great responsibilities." he finished with a bored look

"No. With great power you must exercise greater caution. Your actions will affect the whole world. So be ready to face the consequences. Anyways your only goal is to prevent the destruction of Infinity stones. Other than that you are free to do whatever you need to do." the sorcerer said

"Very well then…. Teach me. Accept me as your student and I will try my best." he said

"Then welcome Siddharth. You have the name of Buddha himself and you are a Buddhist yourself. That will help you here. But first you must learn Sanskrit which I think you are somewhat proficient." the sorcerer asked

"I have learned it when I was in school. But the language has not been used ever since. Might just need to brush up a little." he answered

"Then come. Let's start" the sorcerer said as he stood up

XXXXXX

Twenty long years of training in mystic arts changed Siddharth in ways that he did not knew. He learned the light magic and the dark magic from his teacher, mastered different relics and spells. He completed his training within three years and the rest of the time he continued to learn and master the powers he has been gifted with.

Just as the Sorcerer said he was no longer human. He was something else entirely. He had to train everyday to control all his powers. But finally he achieved perfect control with his hard work and dedication.

Now after twenty years of training he decided to leave Kamar Taj and from Nepal itself. After saying goodbye to his teacher and some of his friends in the temple he began his journey and travelled around the globe. With his sling ring and teleportation ability it was very easy to travel around the world and his magic shielded him from being discovered. He even visited Wakanda and he found them in a peaceful state. They have yet to develop any technology but they are using Vibranium weapons and effectively guarded their nation. While he was there he took a significant quantity of raw Vibranium for research purposes. He stayed some years in African jungles and slowly he began to adjust with the lonely life he had. He used his time there to develop more spells on his own and began helping the local population until finally he decided to return to his birth nation.

By then the year was 232 BCE. He understood this when he returned to India. He visited Pataliputra(Patna) the capital of Maurya empire and he learned the emperor Ashoka died that day. Ashoka was the greatest emperor the Maurya Empire had ever seen. Ashoka expanded Chandragupta's empire to reign over a realm stretching from modern-day Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. It covered the entire Indian subcontinent except for parts of modern-day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

With his death his grandson would inherit the throne but due to negligence the empire would decline and will be dead after some generations. But that would only happen if he would allow it to happen. He decided to establish a stable nation in his homeland. So that night he killed Dasharatha, the grandson of Ashoka and took his place by transferring his soul into the body of the young king.. After appropriate days of mourning were over he was coroneted as the fourth emperor of Maurya Empire.

He knew the land he was governing was too big to hold effectively especially with scattered kingdoms who were looking to pull down the empire from within. So first he began to look for ways to hold the vast empire. For the unity of an empire there were many essential aspects it needed. Most importantly it needs Language, culture, religion, trade, succession and most importantly centralization of power to the crown itself.

Culture and Religion were never a problem but language was a serious problem. So he started small. From his own capital he began to insist on all education be done in Sanskrit. This eventually was established across the empire slowly. He had to personally intervene in some cases to push the issue. But at this time Sanskrit was widely held in great reverence by most parts of the empire so it was not that difficult to establish. Besides he never prohibited other languages he just promoted Sanskrit as the official language of the empire.

Also he began to completely abolish caste systems in his capital. He himself was a Buddhist and the Maurya dynasty also followed Buddhism so there were no problems in the capital itself other than a few grumbles from some nobles. But his activities did not go unnoticed by his vassal kings. Some began plotting rebellions but they knew a direct confrontation would be a lost cause so they resorted to sending assassins after him. Siddharth made short work of them and eradicated entire line of his hidden enemies. He showed no mercy to such people who refused to even fight him face to face.

His family began insisting he marry soon. But he was not interested in married life as he will have to watch as his children die while he stayed eternal. He made up an excuse to visit some of his vassal kingdoms to get away from the capital. He used this time and cursed the rest of the royal family with a black magic spell. Within a week the entire royal family except Dasharatha(Siddhartha) was dead.

Some of his rivals thought this was the perfect time to secede from the empire. All of central India and western India stood with him but the Weastern parts withdrew from the empire thinking the Maurya to be weak. But they realized their mistake too late.

After the necessary mourning periods were over he organized a large army mostly from central India. Wars in India are ritualistic in nature. There is no mass looting of defenseless villages in wars. The wars in India are fought in a designated place with the two opposing sides agree to certain discipline and code of conduct in the battlefield. The battle was fought on the East bank of Jhelum River by the opposing sides. This spot had another historic significance as this was the spot where Alexander the Great defeated the Indian King Porus and established his empire.

The opposing side had the terrain advantage as they knew the land very well and positioned their armies well. So Siddharth decided to adopt a daring formation that will make his enemies attack his army prematurely. He formed his army into an Ardha Chandra Vyuha (Half crescent formation) with himself at the very center of the formation. It was a daring move and many of his generals advised against such a move but he was very adamant about his decision. As he predicted his enemies seeing the formation he took rushed in as they thought the Maurya Emperor was vulnerable to their rushed attack. The enemies adopted a snake like formation to take out their target who was Siddharth. They realized their folly too late as Siddharth took out a special bow that he managed to create using his matter manipulation and magic.

He channeled the dimensional magic into the bow and a red arrow formed on the bow startling many of his own men and the rushing enemies. Siddharth took aim and released the arrow and the red arrow flew at an impossible speed covering a long distance in a short time and fell upon the opposing army. The result was immediate as the head of snake formation became consumed by red hot flames. The screams of men reverberated in the battlefield. The enemy formations became disorganized by the surprise attack and once again Siddharth charged another arrow and released it again upon the enemy. The second arrow increased the intensity of flames. Siddharth gave the order for his generals to attack. The half crescent formation of his army surged forward and expanded its jaw and soon managed to surround the opposing army. It was a slaughter as his army was in high spirits. This battle was just the start and in the coming days he would have to face more enemies.

The campaign took one year to complete. This time he did not spare anyone in the rebelling royal families. He purged them root and stem and installed men he trusted as rulers to the Western provinces. With the empire secure he continued his works to truly unite the empire as a whole. He already knew Afghanistan area was a lost cause so he began to concentrate in Central, West and East India.

As time passed the question of succession arose. He called a council of kings and put forward his decision.

"From now onwards the heir of the empire will be selected by the Emperor. It is not necessary for the emperor to have an heir through blood but can select anyone from the empire and adopt them into the royal family. The emperor may marry and have children or he can be a bachelor and select a heir." he informed the assembled kings

Many were secretly happy with this turn of events. They began to assign their children and grandchildren to impress the emperor enough to name them the heir. But unfortunately he never planned on doing that. He created a human body with his molecular manipulation and used a healthy dose of illusion to make it as real as possible and announced the heir of Maurya Empire. He ended his reign on 202 BCE and handed on the crown to Devavarman. His character Dasharatha ended up going on a pilgrimage to Himalayas which of course he didn't.

He dismissed the molecular construct and ruled as Devavarman from 202 BCE. He continued the policies he had done in previous rule and began expanding the education into everyone. He began to expand the roads in the empire and began spreading it around to increase trade throughout the empire. Buddhism began to spread fast into all corners of the subcontinent as the predominant religion even though he did not actively spread it.

His campaign against caste systems finally began to gain traction and began to spread into Central India. The caste system came into existence because of the way families are structured in India society. The head of the family passes on his creed and skill to his children and this process continues on. The only way to break the caste system was through common and equal education. There was push back against such reforms with violence. He responded with even greater violence by exterminating the entire royal families and granting the wealth and land to those who did not have it at that time. The hold of slavery slowly began to break as the landlords, upper caste men and kings began to realize this was happening with or without them. Slowly but surely the situation began to change and finally central India adopted his reforms by 195 BCE with great reluctance.

It was during the year of 195 BCE the people of Pataliputra witnessed the magical powers of their emperor first hand. The river Ganges began flooding as rain was too heavy that season. With no other choice he used his power over earth and began cutting a canal from Patna straight through the West Bengal into the Bay of Bengal. The canal was completed in three days and this feat of miracle made him a living god in the eyes if his subjects. With a strong and stable empire he decided to expand into South India. But this would take some time so he sped it along by assassination and negotiations. By the time he began his conquest he had already gained a reputation for divine powers. So he had little difficulty in bringing South India under the rule of Maurya as kings surrendered amass at the sight of his armies.

He took many more forms and played as the emperor transforming and empowering his homeland. By 95 CE all of the subcontinent was fully under his control and spoke a common language of Sanskrit. The caste systems were abolished and equality among the people of the empire remained despite some reluctance on many landlords' part. The conquest of the Indian subcontinent was over now the question was whether he could hold his empire.


	3. Dealing with traitors and demons

By the start of the 187 BCE the Mauryan Empire had spread several branches of the ancient Takshila (Taxila) University into the West, North and South India. Siddharth reconstructed and expanded the Nalanda University created by Chandragupta Maurya the first Emperor. The shear amount of knowledge the University of Takshila was enormous and he began hiring an enormous amount of scholars to make a huge number of copies and form them into texts. Then he began to send them into the different parts of the subcontinent to ensure this treasure trove of knowledge would not be lost in time. This was also the time that he began to empower the Western India. He knew the Islamist invaders would come knocking on the borders of Afghanistan soon so he started establishing necessary preparations there. The first thing he did was to expand the roads that were already built by Chandragupta Maurya in his reign and began to spread it to different parts of Afghan and Pakistan reaching them even up to the seashores. He also began to expand the ports in Afghan and Pakistan and began constructing a large enough Navy as well as the Afghan border still hosted the remnants of Greek conquests and rulers left by Alexander the Great. He also expanded the other major strategic road infrastructure that spread from Pataliputra in various directions, connecting it with Nepal, ancint city of Kapilavastu, Dehradun, Mirzapur, Odisha, Andhra and Karnataka.

As East and North India has been fully unified under Maurya rule the West and South still harbored some resentment against the Empire, well mostly by the royal families of these regions. His reforms were after all targeting their power base and his law of removing all previous symbols of power of defeated kingdoms and the use of a single banner of Maurya has been a cause of deep resentment and frankly he was not even trying to bridge the gap with those royal families. He was actually quite eager for them to rebel so he could have a chance to destroy them without any serious blow back.

His reforms were actually aimed at one thing, to create a singular identity for the people of India. With the literacy rates rising and the divide in the society slowly decreasing he began to publish books that were written by himself during his time as books outlined his vision of a united India bound by culture, love, and duty to the motherland. He also included his vision for the formation of a transparent government with inclusion of the common people to take form in the future and for this to take place he asked his brothers and sisters to seek knowledge and gain wisdom to contribute in the formation of a unified Bharath nation. He also asked his successors to continue the reforms he started to ensure his vision to be made a reality in his books.

While the book has been published for some time the effects would only come at a later date, which he knew and he also knew that it would take time to even properly sink in but he has laid the groundwork for the unification now all he needed was a common enemy to gain the necessary traction for his idea. But the main aim of such a revolutionary public declaration was for to bring out the enemies that were festering in his empire.

In 187 BCE he once again changed his body as he had found a mutant with the ability of Telekinesis. It was a very rare find and he managed to shift his soul in a ritual that was done under complete secrecy. After acquiring his new body Siddharth organized the crowning ceremony in Pataliputra, the capital of Maurya Empire. The crowning ceremony was a big festival in the city as it hosted a number of Royal families across the Empire. The Royal families gather at this ceremony in the capital to give their oaths of fealty and gifts to the next Emperor. The city became host to the various divisions of army to show their loyalty to the emperor.

Siddharth arrived upon the city gates in his golden chariot which was pulled by four horses in a symbolic gesture. A small garrison followed him on horse and some on foot. They entered the city and slowly moved to the Royal Palace amidst the celebrating people who were throwing flowers at the path of his passing chariot under the close watch of his soldiers. Soon the procession entered the first wall and the wooden gates opened to welcome the Emperor. Inside the first wall on both sides of the road a line of war elephants stood with decorated plaques and armors with soldiers. Siddharth stopped the chariot as several of his generals kneeled before his chariot and presented him with their jewel crested ornate swords. As he received the weapons from them one by one the elephants raised their trunks and trumpeted filling the city with their powerful sound. The generals stood to the side and mounted their horses and guarded his flanks as the chariot moved to the second wall. The next wall had an iron gate and it took time for his soldiers to pull it open. The procession entered the second gate and the opposite sides of the road were filled with mounted horsemen. They raised their spears into the air as a salute as his chariot passed by. The next wall also had an iron gate and as it opened the two sides of the road were filled with foot soldiers. They were holding the flags of the Empire proudly on their spears. They struck the butt of spears into the ground repeatedly on the ground as his chariot passed them by.

Finally the procession neared the palace and all the Royal families were there standing outside the palace to welcome Siddharth. He stopped the chariot and set his foot on the ground and immediately several drums began to play a tune welcoming his arrival in the city. Siddharth was wearing a yellow dhoti which was shining brightly under the sun and a golden armor that had shining emerald gemstones encrusted on its periphery. He knelt on the ground and touched the earth so as to pray to the Earth Goddess despite being a Buddhist as it was a necessary ritual. There were already some religious tensions in the empire over the Buddhist domination so it was his way of honoring the elder gods. He stood up on his legs and walked towards the main doors of the palace. The guards opened the doors and he entered the palace towards the throne. Several monks were already near the throne chanting prayers in Sanskrit. As he approached the monks took his royal sword from his hand and placed it before the statue of Buddha behind the throne. An old priest who was a devotee of God Vishnu approached Siddharth and drew a half crescent shape on his forehead with sandalwood paste and also placed a small dot of at the very center with Vermilion powder.

With the ceremonies over he sat on the throne and received the crown from the Buddhist priest. The rest of the people attending the ceremony knelt and hailed him as king. Suddenly there was commotion outside that drew everyone's attention. A group of soldiers rushed in with spears and shields tackling the guests away from their immediate area. They fought the guards that were around the palace and in the confusion a spear sailed past all the heads of the guest straight for the throne. But just as it was about to meet its target the spear suspended in mid air. For a time everyone was confused as to who threw the weapon and how it was floating in the air. The answer to the first question was solved when prince Pushyamitra of Shunga dynasty threw another spear aiming for Siddhath's heart. But once again the weapon stopped dead in its track.

Siddharth opened his eyes and they were shining a brilliant silver colour and the weapons in all the attacking enemies flew out of their hands to his side and floated before him. He stood up from his throne and turned to his assailant.

"I see it was a mistake to let the Shunga survive this long. You dare to attack me when I have invited you into my home as a guest. Do you think I am some lowly mortal to fall for your mortal weapons? Haven't your family taught you the Maurya possess divine weapons in our hands or do you also doubt the right and might of Maurya. In that case I will educate you." Siddharth raised his hand and with his telekinec ability dragged the Shunga prince near him.

"My emperor he is a guest in your house. It is against our Dharma to kill or harm a guest." One of the priests advised

"What is the meaning of a guest respected priest? A guest with intentions to kill the host is not a guest rather he is an assassin. By trying to assassinate me he has committed treason and the punishment is death." With that said Siddharth threw the prince against the wall knocking him unconscious. The guards rushed to secure the assassin and bound the hands and legs of the prisoner. The rest of the soldiers who tried to rebel were put down by the loyalist forces.

After the soldiers dragged away the prisoner the ceremony continued despite the interruption. After all the ceremonies were over Siddharth called a meeting with his trusted allies and generals to discuss the possibility of a war with the Shunga. They were all in agreement for such a war as the Shunga dynasty was geographically close to the capital and the threat would only increase if left alone. Siddharth charged one of his general to bring the Shunga to their knees and gave him twenty thousand men. Within two weeks Siddharth received the good news and the Shunga were destroyed root and stem. All the children and women of the royal house were sentenced to serve as devotees of Buddha and were transported to a Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas. With the end of Shungas the hopes of several upper castes depleted. With Buddhism spreading across the land the old social structures were being torn down and the barriers were falling apart. There was no need for Brahmans as all the temples were accessible to all people irrespective of caste, gender, creed or colour. Anyone could become the priests of temples and this situation was what inspired the Shungas to rebel as they hoped to secure the support of the elites to establish themselves in the East. But dreams rarely come true especially when one was planning against the wishes of godlike beings.

The incident became very useful for the Maurya as their rule easily stabilized because of the fear of their power. The several royal houses witnessed the divine power of Maurya first hand and they were either in awe or became consumed by fear. So the rest of Siddharth's ruling years became peaceful and he used this time to increase trade with other south Asian kingdoms all the while he increased his power by absorbing new abilities from mutants all over the world.

**XXXX(TIME SKIP)XXXXX**

Another important event was the arrival of Jews in 52CE (Common Era).They arrived at Nagercoil and Kanyakumari along with the arrival of St. Thomas. Most of them were merchants and had also settled around the town of Thiruvithamcode. With this arrival Christianity began to spread peacefully into the Southern India but at a very sedate pace. It was for this reason Siddharth invited St. Thomas and the Jews to his court as guests. While St. Thomas asked for the permission to preach the religion of Christianity the Jewish people asked for land and a safe haven to practice their religion. Their wishes were granted without any reluctance. Despite Siddharth's refusal to convert to Christianity St. Thomas established a good friendship.

Judaism was already in India as it has been the first foreign religion to arrive but through trade during ancient times long before the formation of Maurya Empire itself. The Southern parts of the empire never had any Jews but that was changing. It was a very curious thing for an Abrahamic religion to be so quickly be accepted and integrated into the Indian culture like Judaism did. In fact there are some accounts of famous historians that suggest the Jews are actually Yadavas(people of lord Krishna) that fled the beautiful city of Dwaraka due to the sinking of the Island it was built on. The remains of Dwaraka can be still found on the coast of modern day Gujarat. Anyhow these do not matter that much but Siddharth certainly decided to check-up the lost city of Dwaraka sometime.

Peace was unfortunately broken just as he expected but from the South. The Southern India was a strange region. No matter who ruled the Northern India, the South could not be conquered by the empires directly. This was a cold hard fact even the Aryans could not establish themselves upon South India as the Dravida culture was completely different from the Aryans.

Dravida culture revolved around the worship of forests, trees, hills, rivers etc. So there was no worship of any god. No matter how many times the Aryans tried they could not defeat the Dravidans in battle and stayed independent and safely under the rule of several Tamil dynasties. But eventually the Aryan culture spread across the South but only through marriage and even then they stayed out of any entanglements with the North and Central India preferring to expand further South into SriLanka.

Anyways, several Southern dynasties banded together to oppose the Mauryan empire. The war began with modern day Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately it was a war that they utterly failed and the end result was the complete purge of royal families in all of these places. Only several cautious dynasties from Kerala survived because they refused to support the war because of a flood that struck the small state. After the war was over Emperor Suryagupta which was his name at that time aided in relief efforts to the people of Kerala. He knew they were planning a rebellion but they didn't because he was the one who caused the flood after all. It was a show of power and he said so to the several petty kings that was left straight to their face. From then on Southern India energetically participated in his little unification process.

Western Indian dynasties quickly changed their tone as the news of complete annihilation of Southern monarchies reached them. While their families began to fall into decline due to the extravagances of their heirs, the Mauryan Empire continued to rule strong despite many trying their best to topple it down.

With him changing the future so much the butterflies were flapping their wings very hardly. With a united and strong empire the spread of Buddhism accelerated around the subcontinent and other parts of Asia. The empire's trade began to increase with Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand in the West and Persia, Africa in the East. The time was a Golden Era for Maurya as their influence spread across Asia. Their only rival being the Han Empire of China which was under constant attacks from within so the Maurya Empire flourished into a strong power. But Siddharth knew it was only a question of time before China will look for expansion so he took the chance now as he began conquering Tibet. Taking Tibet was actually a simple affair as it was scarcely populated and with its inclusion in Maurya Empire Buddhism began to spread there faster than before.

With the Eastern parts of the Empire being secured he began to build roads connecting the Empire with Tibet, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand to increase land trade. He himself installed kings to Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand and brought all these kingdoms as client states under the Empire with political autonomy but with a full military alliance. These kingdoms did not have a large army to effectively defend against any invasions so he placed them under Mauryan protection.

At the same time in Europe, Roman Empire began to dominate and colonized the British Isles and Christianity began to spread into Rome itself.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Siddharth was reading through the Book of Vishanti once again. This was a gift given to him by his old master in Kamar Taj. The book contained an equal number of White magic and Black magic spells. His old master has given this to him for safekeeping until a need for it arisen in the future. He certainly did not practice all the magic in the book. Many of the spells required making a pact with beings outside this reality and most of these spells were downright horrible and disgusting. He himself had killed many by his hands even he would not use these spells on his enemies. But the book also had many useful spells like invisibility spell, protection spell and it even mentions the manipulation of Vibranium in it. That is why he has been reading it. The Vibranium he has been taking from Wakanda still remained mostly untouched except to make a sword and shield through normal means, so now he was learning about its origin and the ways it can be manipulated with magic.

Suddenly a portal opened in his room and a women with the Sorcerer's clothing stepped out. The moment he saw her he recognized her as the Ancient one which of course is now irrelevant considering he was far more ancient than her.

"Greetings Emperor or would you prefer Siddharth." she asked

"Siddharth will do." he said curiously

"My name is Onomaris. I am the Sorcerer Supreme of the order now and has been for some time." she said as she walked near him

"I know who you are. The time stone gave it away. If you are wearing it then there is a serious problem." he said as he closed the book

"Yes there has been an incursion by an outside force into our planet." Onomaris said gravely

"Who?" he asked with a raised eyebrow

"Surtur. He is a fire demon that Odin the king of Asgard imprisoned on Earth thousands of years ago. But now he has broken away from his prison and is wrecking havoc. I am in need of all masters of the Mystic arts to combat the threat. So here I am. Will you help us?" she asked

"Certainly….Where is he right now." he asked as he began to change into his sorcerer robes.

"On Mount Vesuvius which also served as his prison till this day." she said as she created a portal with the sling ring

"So Surtur is in Pompeii. That's great. Why would Odin imprison a fire demon inside a volcano? That is the most stupidest thing I have ever heard and I hear those a lot of that within my court." he said as they stepped through the portal into a plain grassland

There were many sorcerers around us and he saw the eruption of Mount Vesuvius with his own eyes. It was a gruesome sight as fireballs began to rain down on the city below and everything was being buried under thick volcanic ash. The screams of men, women and children began to echo around. Their desperate pleas for help could be heart-wrenching for lesser men but he did not feel anything for them. Time had hardened his heart against such feelings and logic dictated it would be a waste of time as there was a bigger threat to deal with.

"Master we must at least save the children and women." one of the sorcerers said to Onomaris

"We are here to deal with Surtur. If he is not banished from our planet he will wreck havoc and millions more will die. We cannot be allowed to be distracted master Chen. Until I stabilize the volcano distract Surtur but be very careful." Onomaris said

**XXXXXXXX**

Surtur looked around in glee as the screams of those pathetic weak humans reached him. After thousands of years of imprisonment he felt like he was truly alive. This is where he really belonged, soaked knee deep in the blood of his enemies. Odin should not have put him in Midgard or maybe he did that purposefully. Only he knew the truth behind Odin and his daughter were conquerors and drowned entire civilizations in blood in their conquest like him. Still he could not take his true form as he is separated from the Eternal flames and therefore he was still weak. At least he have his sword Twilight by his side.

Suddenly strange yellow circles began to form around him and those pathetic humans stepped out from the circles. If these fools thought him an easy prey then he will show these upstart mongrels the price for standing in his way.

Surtur took a deep breath and expelled a torrent of flames towards the sorcerers. The heat of the flame turned the sand to glass and Siddharth quickly opened a portal in front of it and channeled it away. Three masters constructed magical whips and bound Surtur's left arm. That was a big mistake. Surtur yanked them towards him and with a swipe of his sword he took their life. Their bodies twitched on the ground separated in two by the sword.

Some of their friends seeing this charged upon the fire demon with a battle cry. They channeled dimensional energy and constructed swords, axes and spears to attack the fire demon. But they realized their folly too late as Twilight was a sword which can negate magical spells.

The first sorcerer rushed in with a sword and Surtur swung Twilight which cut through the magical construct and bisected the wizard at his waist. The other two tried to flank Surtur but he swung the sword like a baseball bat and hit one of the sorcerers. He tried to block it with an axe but the magic got absorbed into Twilight and the Wizard's head exploded like a balloon full of meat from the blow. The third wizard, too consumed by his rage charged in recklessly and he was promptly swallowed up by a huge fire from the Twilight.

"Ha…. Ha...Ha… Puny mortals… Do you really think you can even scratch me?" Surtur roared in a mad frenzy

Suddenly Surtur was blasted away from the mountain by a giant lightning bolt. Sultur rolled down the mountain to a stop as he crashed into a giant rock. Suddenly a square block of ground quickly raised itself up punching Surtur in the head making him fly and roll down the mountain again. Surtur stabbed Twilight into the ground to arrest his movement and he saw his enemy floating down from the air without a care in the world.

Surtur became angry and used Twilight and fired a torrent of flames at this young upstart. But Siddharth quickly teleported himself behind Surtur and made the ground below the feet of the fire demon to sink and solidify.

Surtur struggled and roared in rage as he became trapped and Siddharth utilized this. He combined the elements of water and air and began to encase the sword arm of Surtur along with Twilight in Ice. Just as Surtur to breathe fire Onomaris and her remaining disciples used thick magical chains to bind the head of Surtur completely and pulled back hard. The fire demon began to thrash around but Siddharth quickly used this time to summon his Vibranium shield and sword and plunged the sword straight through Surtur's heart.

Surtur screamed in rage and the ice began to break away from Twilight. With a roar Surtur broke all bindings and swung Twilight to take his head. He quickly put up the shield and deflected the fire sword and moved a safe distance away.

"Do you think you have the strength to stand against me puny mortal?" Surtur roared as he brought down Twilight in a overhead swing.

Siddharth blocked it with his shield without buckling.

"Well, firstly I am not a mortal. Secondly I think I have more than enough strength to deal with you firefly." Siddharth said as he twisted his body and spun around getting under Surtur's guard and sliced through the demon's knee with his sword. Surtur screamed in pain and tried to swing Twilight but Siddharth rolled behind him and struck the demon on his elbow with the Vibranium shield and stabbed the demon from his back with the sword.

Siddharth quickly removed the sword and struck Surtur's face with his shield and blasted him away with a lightning bolt. Surtur fell face first into earth twitching from the aftershocks.

Onomaris quickly encased Surtur in thick Ice which dulled down his fire powers. She and other masters of mystic arts began to lay sealing wards around the ice making sure to suppress the demon's power. But Siddharth suddenly felt a spike in power but he could not see it from the demon but it was pushing into his mind. He took a deep breath and concentrated and his mind began to push back against the foreign incursion. In his mind's eye he saw a physical manifestation of Surtur trying to burn away his defenses. That was the biggest mistake the fire demon did as Siddharth's psychic powers were very strong. His eyes glowed a bright silver and the manifestation of Surtur shattered.

"Where will we imprison him master? He is too dangerous to be left here again." one of the masters asked Onomaris

"If he is powerful near fire then why not imprison him in the North pole. The extreme cold will dull his powers" one of the masters suggested

"Why keep him on our planet at all. Why not simply banish him to the rift in Dimensions. Let fate decide his future. He is a threat to Earth and its people. If he blows up the North Pole then the catastrophe that follows will be an extinction level event. Why take such a risk at all." Siddharth asked

"Master Siddharth is correct. We cannot keep him here on earth. We have to banish him." Onomaris said after she took some time to think

"But how master." one of the masters asked

Siddharth created a portal and took the Book of Vishanti and said "By using a spell in this book."

"The book of Vishanti." someone said in awe and asked "how did you come by this"

"My teacher gave it to me. Well in a sense it chose me and then my teacher gave it to me a long time ago." Siddharth shrugged

"But only the sorcerer supreme may possess the book of Vishanti." one of them said looking between Onomaris and Siddharth

"I was trained to be a sorcerer supreme but my destiny lay elsewhere. But the book came with me anyway. Anyways the book posses a spell that can banish even a celestial if necessary, so I think our fire demon problem can be solved with that spell as well." Siddharth said

"That would be the 'Group Spell of Dimension Reversal' isn't it." Onomaris asked

"Yes. Come and see." he flipped the pages of the book and showed the spell to others

With all their efforts they drew a magic circle around the ice prison. They inscribed the runes and symbols necessary for the spell and after it was finished a portal opened up and swallowed Surtur and the sorcerers shut down the portal and the golden magic circle dissipated into small sparks.

"Master Siddharth, we thank you for your assistance. Your presence saved many of our own." Onomaris said

"It's no problem. I was bored so this was a nice experience. Inform me if any more such interesting individuals pop up. This was nice…anyways good day sorcerers." Siddharth said as he left via the portal with the book of Vishanti in his hand

"Master Onomaris, the book must be surely taken back. It belongs to Kamar Taj and the sorcerer supreme." Master Chen said

"He will return it soon. He must learn from it. It is his destiny and two Sorcerer Supremes is better than one for the world. Come, let's mourn our lost comrades and bring their bodies back home." Onomaris said as they left the mountain


End file.
